Thou shall listen

  Three is such a fun age.  Thanks to my speech pathologist BFF, Luke has an amazing vocabulary. He talks ALL the time, we were in the car for a half hour yesterday and he chattered on the entire ride. His chatting continued throughout his cousins entire dance recital, which I am sure the people in front of us loved. My favorite part of his vocabulary is the normal childhood errors.  I love that he pronounces animal "aminal".  I told him something the other day and he looked right at me and said "I already knowed that". He is absolutely hysterical.  Yesterday, I was talking to him and his cousins about getting along, and he raised his hand for me to call on him for his turn to speak (the first time he has ever done that), and when I did he said "What does clouds mean?". He started talking to the baby in my belly too. In addition to all his chatting, he likes to sing.  He makes up songs all the time, he also likes to sing Mickey Mouse songs. He has the sweetest voice too. He is without a doubt my little noisemaker.

   He was cranky yesterday so I had him take a nap, I laid with him for a little bit and he wouldn't stop talking to me, around the seventh time I told him to be quiet, he said it was "Teddy talking"  His teddy bear was apparently the one talking, and he needed to be separated from the other stuffed animals. So, Teddy was placed in my room so he wouldn't distract Luke, or the other animals from their nap.  Luke turns 4 in a few weeks, while I am sure 4 will be as fun and funny as 3, I wish I could remember all of  the funny things he says and does on a daily basis. 

Thou Shall have Another

Jeff and I are expecting baby #2 this fall.  Due October 2nd, although I expect a September appearance. We are very blessed and excited.  Some kids don't react well to the news of a sibling, but not my Lucas.  After I found out I was pregnant, but before we told Luke he whined to me that two of his friends "get a baby and I have nothing" with a pout and crossed his arms.  I love the timing of this conversation. I consoled him and about a month later we showed him the ultrasound.  He was instantly excited and declared we should name the baby "Captain Hook".

Now in my fifth month of pregnancy I feel my little invader dancing around all the time, Jeff was able to feel it once so far as well. Its amazing to feel, often when I am having a tough time at work or stressing out about something simple I feel a little nudge and I am reminded what is really important. It reminds me of my pregnancy with Luke, which was very similar and pretty normal - according to the books. Through the journey of deciding when to start trying to have another baby I learned the important lesson that there is never a perfect time, we went back and forth about timing, due to my job change and our financial goals and eventually we decided the conditions were never going to be perfect, but we wanted a bigger family. You would think we remembered this lesson from the first time, but I guess we are slow learners. As it turns out the timing is wonderful, because such a blessing is wonderful regardless of the delivery date.  Luke will be going into 4 year preschool and can't wait to have a baby around.

I have noticed slight changes in Luke since he found out about the baby.  They may be completely unrelated to the news, but he is clinging to stuffed animals which is a new behavior for him.  Luke has a puppy, a "batman kitty" and a teddy bear that he rotates having by his side. He also told me that he would only like a baby brother, because the only girls he likes are his cousins.  He comes up with other hysterical anecdotes almost daily.  I am so excited to see him as a big brother.